Two Lithium-Ion Battery Fires in Three Weeks Destroy Homes in Pasco County, Florida
Battery fires in Zephyrhills and New Port Richey destroyed two homes, killed a dog and displaced six people between Aug. 31 and Sept. 18.
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In 2025, fire departments serving Zephyrhills responded to 373 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $284K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,177 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $6.4M cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 349 | — | |
| 2022 | 445 | +27.5% | |
| 2023 | 383 | -13.9% | |
| 2024 | 627 | +63.7% | |
| 2025 | 373 | -40.5% |
For the 26 building fires Zephyrhills departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 544 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outside area, other | 86 | 15.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 67 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 48 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 47 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 44 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 25 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Other | 22 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 22 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 17 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 11 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 155 | 28.5% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Zephyrhills mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 130 | 23.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 67 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 59 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 38 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 31 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 26 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 25 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 22 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 21 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 18 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 107 | 19.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Zephyrhills departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 63% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $284,475 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $159,750 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $103,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $66,749 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Zephyrhills sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
44 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 62,076 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 10,119 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,500 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,407 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 3,000 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,507 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 2,500 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,300 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,275 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,189 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 2,000 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 31.8 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Florida cities with population within ±25% of Zephyrhills. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Zephyrhills.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.